When an inflammatory reaction or tissue destruction has occurred in the body, it is diagnosed based on the detection of what is called an inflammation marker as an index. One representative example of the marker is a C-reactive protein (hereinafter to be referred to as CRP). CRP is a serum protein secreted by the liver into the blood on affliction with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and the like, malignant tumor, primarily bacterial infectious diseases and the like. Therefore, CRP is known to show high values in patients with these diseases.
However, since CRP values show high individual differences, it is a particularly useful index when progression of the disease state of individual patients is observed, rather than comparison with the standard value or CRP values of others. CRP is generally measured immunologically by a method such as ELISA (Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay) and the like.
In the meantime, the shift to the left of white blood cells and an increase in the number of white blood cells occur in early stages of inflammation. Therefore, it is clinically highly important to simultaneously measure not only CRP but also white blood cells.
The present inventors took note of the above-mentioned aspect, provided for the first time an apparatus for measuring blood cells and immunity from whole blood, which simultaneously enables measurement of blood cells including white blood cells and CRP (JP-B-3477352, hereinafter to be referred to as patent document 1).
The apparatus described in patent document 1 is configured to classify white blood cells into 3 types. White blood cells can be divided into five kinds of cells: neutrophil, eosinophil, basophil, monocyte and lymphocyte. Of these, neutrophil, eosinophil and basophil are sometimes referred to collectively as granulocytes. In the apparatus for measuring blood cells and immunity from whole blood of the above-mentioned patent document 1, granulocytes, monocytes and lymphocytes are counted as white blood cells (i.e., classification into 3 types).
In the apparatus for measuring blood cells and immunity from whole blood of the above-mentioned patent document 1, a sampling nozzle (being a long and thin pipe, it is also called a “needle”) 36 is formed to execute processing steps essential for the CRP measurement (FIGS. 4(a), 4(b), and FIG. 5).
As shown in FIGS. 4(a), (b), a specimen container 4 containing a specimen, a CRP cell 19, reagent containers (20, 21, 22) containing the reagents for CRP measurement, and blood cell counting-measuring cells (WBC cell 27 for white blood cell, RBC cell 28 for red blood cell) are aligned and disposed in a line in the horizontal direction. A single sampling nozzle 36 is controlled to move in the horizontal direction (positioning movement above each container and cells) and downward and upward movements (movements to go into and out from each container and cells) in a predetermined order. By these configurations, suction and discharging of specimen and reagents, CRP measurement in the CRP cell, and blood cell counting and measurement in the WBC cell and RBC cell are performed full-automatically.
In the aforementioned apparatus, various processing steps, such as steps of [suction and discharging of specimen and CRP reagents, CRP measurement in CRP cell, blood cell counting and measurement in the WBC cell and RBC cell, cleaning processing of each cell, cleaning processing of the outside of nozzle where necessary after each processing step, and final cleaning processing of the inside and outside of nozzle after the final step] are performed sequentially and full-automatically, and the whole processing steps require about 4 minutes per one specimen to complete.
The processing time of about 4 minutes per one specimen as mentioned above is free of problems and preferable for general tests. However, in an institution where a large number of specimens need to be processed in one day, shortening of time even by several dozen seconds greatly contributes to an increase in the daily through-put.
On the contrary, in conventional apparatuses for measuring blood cells and immunity from whole blood, the moving speed and sucking and discharging speed of the sampling nozzle are appropriate, and each processing step is essential, and therefore, there was no room for reduction in reaction time of reagents, measurement time, cleaning frequency and the like.
The problem of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for measuring blood cells and immunity from whole blood, which is capable of shortening the measurement processing time necessary for one specimen.